OUCH TIMES FOUR

So yesterday at the farm, I thought I'd finally trim those bushes on each side of the front stairs.  I did the first one, it went great.  I started on the second one.  Had trimmed about half of it when I grabbed a branch and didn't realize there was a wasp nest in one of the branches...

The first one got the top side of my right hand...

The next one hit the back of my left arm elbow...

The third one hit my temple...

The fourth one hit behind my ear...

Since wasps can sting over and over, I'm not sure if it was one wasp four times or multiple wasps.  Whatever it was, they are dead.  I sprayed that nest and killed all of them.  Then in my pain induced frenzy I went around the house and sprayed every nest I could find no matter where it was.  

The pain is pretty harsh for about 10 minutes. Then it goes away only to come back later. Today I have some swelling on the back of my arm, my pinky finger has tingling and the ones on my head are sore, probably because the skin is thinner on your head.

Good day to stay in and rest.

Update on the rest of the weekend tomorrow. 

FALL HAS ARRIVED

We saw this and it made us laugh.  SO true.  Yesterday was 92.  

Today is supposed to get to 90.  AND it's raining.  With the potential for flooding.  Rain chances are at 90% today and 70% tomorrow.  Sigh.  No mowing this weekend I would presume.  As this posts, barring a monsoon downpour, I'll be at the farm to check the house, water the plants on the porch, check around the property, look at the garden and fruit trees, and do a few things inside.  2nd Man will stay in town and work from home.

Sausage gravy with homemade biscuits

Of course the morning started with sausage gravy and biscuits.  The breakfast of champions, ha!

Hope your weekend is off to a better start...

CERAMIC CANDLE LANTERNS THRIFT STORE FIND

Haven't posted any thrift store finds recently.  I found these a couple of weeks ago while at lunch.

Hanging candle lanterns

Ceramic candle lanterns with handles to hang them.  They don't look like they have ever been used.  They are a white ceramic and have a beautiful perforated pattern of holes on them.  

Candle lantern

Each one is between the size of a pint and a quart Mason jar. We're not crazy about the shiny brass wire handles but that could be easily remedied.  

While they could stay inside the house, we're thinking of using them on the porch.  We don't even have to use actual candles, we could use the battery operated tea lights.  

The best part is when a candle is lit up inside, it puts out a beautiful pattern of lights that dance on the walls and ceiling.

Price?  $1 each.

SOLD!

MULTICOLORED SIMPLE FLOWER BED INSPIRATION THURSDAY

Every Thursday we like to post a picture of something we've found online that inspires us to do something similar at the farm. Sort of our own blog bulletin board so that we can eventually look back and someday, hopefully anyway, recreate it...enjoy!

As Summer comes to a close, and our own flowerbeds are now just a mass of dead plants and weeds (more weeds now than dead plants) we are reminded about what can be done when we see a picture like this.

It looks like they are all annuals but the mix of colors is just so vibrant and colorful.  We think next Spring we may just do something like this to shake things up a bit.  Our flowerbeds are almost identical to this.  

Be inspired!

SHEET PAN OMELET WITH SAUSAGE BACON AND EGGS

Here's another sheet pan breakfast we make.  This I guess is sort of like a sheet pan omelet.  It's a variation on another one that we do.

We roasted some new potatoes and sliced up sausage (already fully cooked) on a sheet pan. Tossed in olive oil, salt and pepper (potatoes cut in half) and then roasted it all at 400 degrees for about 30 minutes or until the potatoes are fork tender. 

We had some bacon already cooked from a few days before.  We like to keep cooked bacon on hand, you never know when you might need it, it's like duct tape for the kitchen, ha. We crumbled up several slices on a sheet pan.

Add the potatoes and sausage to the bacon and scatter about evenly. Yes bacon and sausage, this is a meat lovers omelet, ha.

Six eggs in a bowl with herbs and seasonings to taste.  Here we used about 1 TBSP onion flakes, 1 tsp garlic powder,, 1 tsp dried parsley, salt, pepper and some red pepper flakes, again it's really all to taste and of course to your personal preference. 

Pour egg mixture over meat and potatoes.

Scatter 1 cup shredded cheese (this is a Monterrey jack blend) over the top of all and pop in the oven.  

Sheet pan omelet

Bake in the oven at 400 degrees, for about 20 minutes or until eggs are set and cheese is melted and bubbly.  All you really want to do is make sure the eggs are set and cooked.

Slice it up and serve.  It's great for breakfast or a lunch or even a snack. We can eat on it for a couple of days several times.  It's very flexible you could add veggies, other meats, different cheese, more seasonings, etc.  

Enjoy!

CITRUS TREE RELOCATION

Well, less a relocation than just a new place to grow them.  The ones that froze in the big freeze last year have never really come back.  It looks like they came back from below the graft so they will never fruit. 

Sure enough, all Spring and Summer, not a single flower and the leaves look a bit different than before. 

That being said, we felt that ultimately they are in the wrong spot to take care of properly.  They are harder to water where they are now and they are harder to keep covered and/or warm in the Winter.

So here in a few weekends, they will be removed and we will repurpose the galvanized metal ring containers elsewhere on the property.  

As for new trees, there is a prefect spot for each one in the middle of the rows and in between every two beds of existing trees.  That makes room for three more trees in the orchard behind the house.

One more advantage of being behind the house is now we can easily plug in some Christmas lights to put around the the citrus trees if we get another hard freeze this year.  We'll still use our frost cloth but now we can easily supplement it with other things to keep the trees alive in a hard freeze.  

Raised bed orchard

As it turns out, we still have three unused sets of the steel corners to build the raised beds.  Three is all we need.  One lime, one orange and one lemon!

I will build the raised beds once the weather cools down but of course won't plant right away.  At least the hardest part will be done and all we will need is the soil and the trees.

This time of year, there are 70% off sales at most of the garden centers. We can (hopefully) get the three we need for our area. A Meyer lemon, a Persian lime and a Mandarin orange. We don't need to plant them now as we can keep them alive this Winter by keeping them in town on the balcony until it's time to plant them in raised beds early next year.

There is one more advantage to taking them out from behind the garden, it leaves us space for future building...like a greenhouse perhaps?  :-)

RANDOM SUNDAY

Sunday musings.   We had rain yesterday, the farm according to 2nd Family is muddy and wet, so even though today is Sunny, we've decided to just stay in town this weekend.  

My boss was in New Mexico and brought us back a big bag of peppers from a local Farmer's Market. The orange is of course an orange bell.  Does anyone know what the red ones are?  Before you answer, it's sweet.  Not hot or spicy at all, almost like a sweet red bell pepper.  We're going to save some seeds and maybe see if we can grow them here next year.

This cow.

Ready for her closeup. 

Last weekend I noticed that the Maypops (Passion flower) are developing fruit.  We thought they were only in the Spring?  Not sure if we can harvest these, honestly have never eaten them.  We've always seemed to miss them, they are there one weekend, we forget for a couple of weeks and then they are gone (wildlife we presume).

Maybe we should try?

No truer words!

Hope you are having a great weekend!

FRIDAY FUNNY

OK, we saw this and it made us laugh. Thought with all the oppressive news that seems to be non-stop, we could all use a laugh.

And of course we ARE in Texas, ha!

Hope those in the East are safe from Florence.  We have a rain event from a "tropical system" in the Gulf and so our weekend is looking to be yet another washout.  We'll see.  

WHEELBARROW FLOWERS INSPIRATION THURSDAY

Every Thursday we like to post a picture of something we've found online that inspires us to do something similar at the farm. Sort of our own blog bulletin board so that we can eventually look back and someday, hopefully anyway, recreate it...enjoy!

We'd love to find an old wheelbarrow like this one. Though this one is so cool as a vintage piece I'm not sure I'd want to fill it with flowers, ha.  Anyway, we love this idea and have posted other wheelbarrow "flowerbeds" before.  

This one looks like it could be just a vessel to hold potted flowers.  Either way it's very pretty just as a focal point in the middle of the yard.  And it's mobile so it can be moved around to other spots in the yard!

Be inspired!

LASAGNA ROLLUPS RECIPE

I love pasta.  In any way, shape or form.  I think I must have been Italian in a previous life.  So when 2nd Man says "do you want pasta?" I'm all like "um, YEAH!!!!!"

This one is simple and good.

Simple tomato sauce.  This has no meat.  It's made of tomatoes both canned and fresh.  Oregano, basil, garlic, salt and pepper.  Just a basic sauce, any style you like.  Of course you can put meat in your sauce if you are so inclined.  

Next, boil a pound of lasagna noodles in salted water.  Remove when they are al dente and lay out to dry a bit (we put ours on a fresh dishtowel). 

In a separate bowl, mix one 15 oz container of ricotta cheese, 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese, 1/2 cup mascarpone cheese, 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese, 1 large egg, 1 TBSP fresh Italian flat leaf parsley (chopped), 1 TBSP fresh basil (chopped), and salt and pepper to taste.

Spread about 1/3 of the sauce in the bottom of a baking dish.

Spread 2 to 3 TBSP filling on each lasagna noodle and roll up.

Place seam side down in sauced baking dish. 

Just keep repeating the process until...

...you have filled your baking dish with the rolled up noodles.

Pour remaining sauce over the top of all.

Sprinkle some shredded cheese over the top and place, uncovered, in a 350 degree oven for about 50-60 minutes or until cheese is browned and bubbly.

Remove from oven and dish it up. It's so yummy, almost like having a lasagna (I said "almost", ha).